梅赛德斯-奔驰香港总部大厦——奔驰汽车新地标
梅赛德斯-奔驰香港总部大厦——奔驰汽车新地标
“汽车品牌大赛ABC”是为汽车、摩托车以及各种新型的出行交通工具品牌举办的设计大赛，现已发展成为移动出行领域的重要国际赛事。主办方德国品牌设计委员会通过大赛表彰杰出产品和视觉传达设计，引导大众关注品牌与品牌设计对行业的重要性。梅赛德斯-奔驰香港总部获得2020年“汽车品牌大赛ABC”企业建筑设计Winner优胜奖，以表彰香港梅赛德斯-奔驰香港总部出色的建筑和室内设计。
梅赛德斯-奔驰香港总部办公室建筑前身是位于柴湾嘉业街60号的柴湾货仓(Chivas Godown)，空间直面海湾，地理位置绝佳，窗外海景一览无余。
基于对奔驰品牌“心所向，持以恒 (The Best or Nothing)”的理解，anySCALE任督设计的设计师们将梅赛德斯-奔驰香港总部大厦办公空间设计成为打破等级制度、增进跨部门跨界协作及交流的开放“共同空间”。由黑色、木色、橘色及灰色组成的饰面材料，如调色盘般将不同彩色和肌理镶嵌入仓库自身白色的混凝土结构中，体现了品牌高贵典雅的企业特色。定制的艺术装饰、精心挑选的产品图片，以及特殊挑选的彩色家具及装饰灯具，也成为了空间中层层迭起的设计亮点。整体开放的loft式办公氛围，在两层楼均设置休闲活动区，这让整个办公空间在带有工业风的同时亦不乏亲和力，与建筑原身是仓库这一背景紧密契合。
anySCALE任督设计运用设计工具，为企业组织注入了新的活力。现代化的办公室，向品牌传统和生活方式致敬并将其融合在一起，通过使其对年轻人更具吸引力来提升企业品牌的价值。
为了深入了解设计师和品牌企业如何思索未来的办公文化，对行业具有什么样的启示，德国品牌设计委员会大中华区总经理王磊先生(LW)采访了anySCALE任督设计Andreas Thomczyk(AT)先生和梅赛德斯-奔驰香港有限公司。Andreas Thomczyk先生提到，如何体现“心所向，驰以恒”的品牌主张，这对我和团队来说是最大的挑战。梅赛德斯-奔驰品牌在香港安家，客户和合作伙伴才能对梅赛德斯品牌放心。
以下是采访部分节选。
Interview_MB_Hong Kong
L: Frederik Gollob先生(FG)和Tomczyk先生，您二位合作的梅赛德斯-奔驰香港总部获得2020年国际汽车品牌大赛ABC企业建筑设计Winner优胜奖，以表彰香港梅赛德斯-奔驰香港总部出色的建筑和室内设计。德国品牌设计委员会在全球范围内发现并展示卓越的设计实践，梅赛德斯-奔驰香港办公室以独特的方式，将梅赛德斯品牌的优雅，现代工作场所以及香港当地历史和文化相融合，使梅赛德斯-奔驰香港办公室成为新的品牌地标，为现代办公文化注入新元素。 Q: 对设计师最大的挑战在哪里？ A: 我们关注品牌主张，梅赛德斯-奔驰在全球范围内使用的中文品牌主张是：“心所向，驰以恒”。“心所向，驰以恒”对设计梅赛德斯-奔驰香港总部意味着什么？刚开始我站在仓库大楼五楼，看见这里是一个停车场，你几乎不可能向人清晰的描述，这里最终将变成“心所向，驰以恒”的梅赛德斯-奔驰香港总部，我认为这对我和团队来说是最大的挑战。设计和创造的过程对我们来说纯粹就是快乐。 Q: 设计师如何为企业建立新的工作文化做出贡献？ F: 我们想要什么样的办公空间与团队一起互动与工作？我觉得要鼓励人们放弃以办公桌为中心，自然而然地融入不同的场景中互相见面，不设隔间就是一种现代的做法。我觉得分功能区比设计更重要。我们的设计完成的非常出色，而且锦上添花。我喜欢每天在这里工作的感觉，我的同事几乎无缝对接地完成了过渡。沟通、协作和创造，并用这种新的“共同工作”文化来推动创新，尽管说起来容易做起来更难。
Q: 德国设计在亚洲是否仍然享有声誉？今天的德国设计有什么新的内涵？ A: 我认为德国设计和工程技术在中国大陆和香港仍然很受人们欢迎，尤其是德国汽车享有很高的声誉。德国汽车制造历史悠久，德国建筑设计也很扎实。不过德国设计也在与时俱进，正在变得更加国际化。许多德国工程师和设计师正在国外工作。思维方式，结构思维，精确度以及对质量的理解，这些对设计都很重要。质量、速度和金钱都很重要。没有质量，几乎不可能达到最佳结果并获得奖项，引领市场。我觉得对质量的追求是德国设计和制造的标志，这点是公认的。
Q: 获得2020年国际汽车品牌大赛ABC荣誉，请问二位先生从你们各自的经历，有什么感言？ F: 我们真的很感谢获奖荣誉及认可。我们相信我们，还有任督设计获得奖项认可实至名归。仅举一个现实中的例子，我们将奖牌放在办公室中区的位置，当我们与团队开会时，每个人都能看见获奖的认可。再次的表示感谢。
A: 之前我们有几个项目被德国品牌设计委员会授予设计大奖，anySCALE任督设计在国际范围获得了一定的认可。我们依赖客户，必须交付优秀作品。获得国际汽车品牌大赛ABC的荣誉确实让我们坚定信心，帮助我们为客户创造更好的作品。
The “ABC Automotive Brand Contest” is a design competition for brands of cars, motorcycles and new mobility vehicles, and has developed into a major international event in the field of mobility. The German Brand Design Council, the organizer of the competition, recognizes outstanding product and visual communication design and draws attention to the importance of branding and brand design to the industry. The Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong headquarters received the Winner Award for Corporate Architectural Design in the 2020 “ABC Automotive Brand Contest” in recognition of the outstanding architectural and interior design of the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong headquarters in Hong Kong.
Formerly the Chivas Godown at 60 Ka Yip Street in Chai Wan, the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong headquarters building is ideally located directly on the bay with unobstructed views of the sea from the windows.
With an understanding of the Mercedes-Benz brand “The Best or Nothing”, the designers of anySCALE designed the office space in the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong headquarters building as an open “common space” that breaks down hierarchies and promotes cross-departmental collaboration and communication. “common space”. The finishes composed of black, wood, orange and grey, like a palette of different colors and textures set into the white concrete structure of the warehouse itself, reflect the brand’s noble and elegant corporate character. The custom-made art decorations, carefully selected product images, and specially selected colorful furniture and decorative lamps are also the design highlights of the space. The overall open loft-style office atmosphere, with relaxation areas on both floors, makes the whole office space industrial and friendly at the same time, and fits in closely with the background of the building being a warehouse.
anySCALE uses design tools to breathe new life into the organization. The modern office pays homage to the brand’s heritage and lifestyle and blends them together to enhance the value of the corporate brand by making it more attractive to young people.
To gain insight into how designers and brands are thinking about the future of office culture and what inspiration it holds for the industry, Mr. Lei Wang (LW), General Manager of the German Brand Design Council Greater China, interviewed Mr. Andreas Thomczyk (AT), Supervising Designer at anySCALE, and Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Ltd. Mr. Andreas Thomczyk mentioned that it was the biggest challenge for me and my team to reflect the brand proposition of “Where the heart is, the car is”, while that the Mercedes-Benz brand has made its home in Hong Kong. The Mercedes-Benz brand has made its home in Hong Kong so that customers and partners can feel comfortable with the Mercedes brand.
Below are some excerpts from the interview.
Interview_MB_Hong Kong Q: Which were the challenges for you as the architect? A: We looked always very closely at the brand. The Mercedes-Benz slogan is, “The best or nothing.” They use this globally but what does it mean in terms of design? When you tell someone “The best or nothing”, that’s what you exactly designed for you but we go now to the rundown factory building on the 5th floor where there is a parking lot. This is almost impossible to explain to someone that this becomes “The best or nothing” at the end and I think this was the biggest challenge for us. Again, design was purely joy I have to say. Q: How can architecture contribute to a new work culture? F: How do we want to work together? That people don’t stick to their desks. That people have a natural encouragement to go and meet each other in a different environment not to have cubicles which meanwhile is state of the art, but the zoning is more important than the design itself. The design is the icing on the cake, and it is brilliant. I like to work here every day and I come with joy to office and all of my colleagues have done this transition in almost no time. Not only in these days, in general it’s all about communication, collaboration, creating this working culture to drive innovation. Easier said than done. Q: Does German design still have reputation in the Asia or is design a global concept nowadays? A: No, it’s more. I think German design, German engineering, and it’s together when we talk about car industry, it’s still very well perceived in China and Hong Kong. I think the history of German car manufacturing is enormous, the history of German architecture is really solid. If we design particular in a German way I would say no because I would need to think more what is particular German design in our days because I think this is also changing. Germany gets also more global crossing borders. Many German engineers and designers are working abroad. The way of thinking, structure thinking, precision, the understanding that quality is so important. Speed and money is also important in Asia but quality. Without quality it’s almost impossible to reach top results and to get awarded and to get leader in the market. That’s typical German and this is well perceived, yes. Q: How does it feel to receive the Automotive Brand Contest award for your achievement? F: Well, certainly on this note we truly appreciate this honour. We’re thankful for this recognition as well. We do believe we and first and foremost anySCALE also deserves this recognition. Just to give you a practical example the winner plaque we put at the heart of the office in our town hall area so whenever we meet with all the team everyone can see this recognition in form of the nice plaque we received. Thanks again also for that.
A: The German Design Council previously awarded some of our projects and gave us the chance to get globally recognized. We rely on our clients and our final outcome and these awards really help us.
